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Thursday, May 19, 2011

This chart shows the Average PE for all profitable tech stocks with a market cap of at least $300 million. The Average PE is compared to the NASDAQ Composite.

The interesting thing is that even thought the NASDAQ Composite has moved up over the last few quarters as depicted in the chart, the average PE peaked after Q4 2010 earnings were reported and has declined ever since.

It's true I've tossed out some of the really high PE outliers but even when they are included, the chart has the same shape as that shown above.

This suggests that Tech stocks today are anything but over-valued.

Further supporting this thesis is that the second half of the year is often strong for Tech and many analysts are predicting that this year will be no different.

Bottom line: tech stocks are undervalued and the coming seasonality puts the wind at their backs. Tech is likely a Buy right now.

Teradyne (TER) had a strong first quarter but warned the second quarter might be more challenging

Novellus (NVLS) is pretty much in the same boat with Broadcom and Teradyne

Applied Materials (AMAT) announced they are buying Varian (VSEA) so it’s clear that AMAT certainly sees potential in the chip sector

This list is by no means complete but it illustrates that consistency is lacking in the sector. The situation is no better among analysts. Two examples follow:

Gartner – the glass is half empty

A couple of months ago Gartner forecast that PC sales will grow only 10.5% in 2011, which is down from a 15.9% prediction from November 29 and 18.1% prior to that. In their view, the primary reason is a major slowdown in notebook sales from the 40% growth rates we have seen over the past few years, to only about 10% this year. This is considered to be a serious reason for pessimism on semiconductors and the company thinks it may limit growth in chip sales for the year to a modest 4.6 percent.

In other analyst reports, research firm International Data Corp. predicted that the chip market would grow 9 percent in 2011. VLSI Research Inc. said it expects chip sales to grow only 4.4 percent in 2011.

IC Insights – the glass is half full

On the other hand, we have IC Insights pointing to the fact that sequential growth in chip sales was slightly positive going from Q4-2010 to Q1-2011. This doesn’t sound like much, but growth over these two quarters is typically negative and has averaged -1.2% over the last 18 years. Given the seasonality typically seen in the semiconductor sector, mildly positive growth at this time of year is actually more important than it might seem. IC Insights goes on to say that in years where this positive growth phenomenon has been observed, full year annual growth has typically been at least 11% and has often been much stronger.

Here is the chart of those years where Q4-Q1 growth has been positive:

Investors should keep in mind that annual chip industry seasonality usually progresses like this: weak first half of the year followed by a strong second half.

In the meantime, some chip companies are following the standard script, some are deviating somewhat from expectations by showing good Q1 earnings reports but cautious Q2 outlooks while others are surprising to the upside. In other words, a consistent theme is difficult to find.

What does seem to be consistent is the continued growth in bandwidth use both in mobile and non-mobile. As Intel showed, whether PC sales decline or not, the demand for servers to support all the data flowing through the global telecommunications, enterprise and Internet infrastructure is unlikely to wilt. And that will provide a prop for semiconductor sales even if the new, white iPhone doesn’t meet sales targets.

Add in the slow but steady improvement in the economy as another positive for the chip sector and I find myself leaning toward the same view offered by IC Insights: the glass is half full.

Finally, the chip sector proves there is still some excitement in tech. Just today Intel announced that they had managed to figure out how to mass produce 3-D “tri-gate” transistors. This 3-D design, first announced a couple of years ago, is expected to usher in a new period of faster, lower power chips that might finally make Intel competitive in the mobile space and in the meantime provide an enhanced power/performance ratio for all other users.

With the iShares Semiconductor Sector ETF (SOXX) roughly 7% off its recent high, this could be a pretty interesting time to think about buying. The ETF sits just above where its 20-DMA and its 50-DMA are intersecting. I expect SOXX to test that level and drop below it. A move back above roughly $59.50 would confirm in my mind that the near-term decline in the ETF has run its course. With the second half of the year expected to be strong (at least for some companies) the current bout of weakness could be a good buying opportunity.

Disclosure: no positions in any stocks or ETFs mentioned in this article

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Trend reversals can be classic Buy signals. I wanted to let everyone know that there is a post up at our sister site TradingStockAlerts.com that explains several ways you can use their Premium Stock Screener to find trend reversals.

Not only does the post discuss finding the latest Trade-Radar reversal alerts and simple trend reversals (what we refer to as Trend Busters) but also ways of using Trend Performance in combination with a few other indicators.

Read the post and go play with the screener. There are lots of variations you can apply to the basic setups discussed in the post. And remember, it's easy to get a free account that will give you access to the screener, let you save screener presets and save screener results to watch lists.

Disclaimer: This site may include market analysis. All ideas, opinions, and/or forecasts, expressed or implied herein, are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to invest, trade, and/or speculate in the markets. Any investments, trades, and/or speculations made in light of the ideas, opinions, and/or forecasts, expressed or implied herein, are committed at your own risk, financial or otherwise.

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About the TradeRadar software

The value of the TradeRadar signal is in identifying entry points and exit points for stock trading. I am providing the TradeRadar software free of charge - just go to the download page and you can get everything you need to get it running (PC only). I encourage everyone to try the software and share your results on this blog. My hope is that we can all benefit (and profit)! All comments are welcome.

Please Note: This trading system may be of most benefit to those traders who are interested in “hitting singles and doubles”. In other words, 15% to 30% gains over the course of several weeks to several months. This site is not about day trading or swing trading as the system proposed here does not lend itself to those methodologies.